Driving while using the smartphone app Facetime apparently caused an Elkhart man to crash his car head-on into a semi truck near Bremen Monday morning. Officers with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department say it happened around 4:00 a.m. on U.S. 6 near Miami Highway. Continue reading
Public Hearing Scheduled to Discuss Culver Superintendent Contract
The Culver Community School Board will hold a public hearing tonight to hear comments on the proposed superintendent’s contract. That hearing will be tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET in the administration office on the school’s campus.
Interim Superintendent Chuck Kitchell will be retiring at the end of June. He has been with the Culver Community School Corporation for 28 years. Kitchell assumed the interim superintendent’s position at the end of December in 2015.
Marshall County Commissioners to Meet Today
The Marshall County Commissioners are expected to take further action this morning on an ordinance that reestablishes the maximum rate of the Cumulative Capital Development Fund at $.0333 per $100 of assessed valuation.
The commissioners held a public hearing on the matter earlier this month and approved the ordinance on first reading. While the three commissioners stated they don’t want to raise taxes, they noted that something has to be done to help the highway department gather more funds for capital costs.
Town of Culver Working to Update Website
It’s a tool that Culver residents have appreciated over the years and the Culver Town Council hopes to improve its overall appearance.
The town’s website will soon be getting a facelift. Town Manager Jonathan Leist and Clerk-Treasurer Karen Heim have been working to find a solution to make it more user friendly. Leist told the town council last week that only one person can input information to the website from one desktop. Ideally, it would be more efficient for all department heads to have access to the website to upload information for convenience.
Rees Theater Memory Tour Scheduled for This Weekend
Members of the Rees Theater Project Committee invite residents to embark on a Memory Tour this weekend to relive the experience of being at the movies inside the facility.
Officials say this will be the only opportunity to take a peek inside the structure before renovations to the art deco theater begin. The theater was opened by the Stewart Rees family in 1940. The theater has been an icon of the Plymouth downtown area since that time.
Plymouth Police Complete Enforcement Campaign
The Plymouth Police Department recently completed a 24-day enforcement period where the officers focused on dangerous and impaired driving.
Statistics revealed 21 tickets were written and one arrest was made in the City of Plymouth.
Marshall County Community Foundation Awards Grants
The first round of Marshall County Community Foundation grants was announced this week.
Twenty-two organizations in Marshall County received $122,588 in unrestricted funds through the Marshall County Community Foundation. Unrestricted funds are the most flexible and responsible of the Foundation’s 347 funds in addressing current and emergent needs. These funds support the arts, education, health and human services, recreation and the environment.
Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety Approves Police Department Requests
A retiring police officer will leave the Plymouth Police Department with his service weapon.
The Plymouth Board of Public Works this week approved a resolution to deem the officer’s handgun as surplus property to the police department. With that unanimous approval, the weapon can be released from the department’s inventory to the officer when he is prepared to leave office.
Town Action Lowers Credit Card Convenience Fee
The convenience fee to pay for items through the Town of Culver has been slashed.
Clerk-Treasurer Karen Heim told the Culver Town Council members this week that she met with a representative from PayGOV to make the changes to the convenience fee. The previous agreement included a $2.50 convenience fee on a minimum charge and anything over $25 customers were charged a three percent fee.
Plymouth Community School Board Approves Bid for Paving Project
Five bids were received for the paving project at Plymouth High School and one was approved this week to complete the job.
Four sections of the parking lot were specified for bids in the advertisement for contractors. Five bids were received for those four areas. The lowest bid was submitted by Niblock at $310,700. All of the required base quotes and alternate bids, bid bonds and supplementary forms were included in the bid packet. The highest bid received was over $400,000.
Dormant Funds Return to County General Fund
The Marshall County Council approved action to return money to the county’s General Fund.
Auditor Julie Fox presented an ordinance to the council members Monday morning after a fund was deemed dormant. According to Fox, no transactions have taken place within the Homestead Credit Rebate fund since May of 2008.
Culver Town Council Discusses Sidewalk Reimbursement Request
The Culver Town Council discussed an issue concerning a participant with last year’s sidewalk replacement program.
Clerk-Treasurer Karen Heim explained to the council members that a resident applied for the sidewalk program last year. As the season wore on, the applicant found that the project could not be completed in 2016 and asked if the same request could be considered in the 2017 application process. Utility Superintendent Bob Porter confirmed that all of the specifications were complete for the cement to be poured, but another construction project at that location delayed the sidewalk installation.
Bid Awarded for Traffic Signal project
The Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety members approved a bid to get a traffic signal project started.
City Engineer Rick Gaul asked for the approval of a contract submitted by Michiana Contracting as they produced the low bid for the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Oakhill, Soice and Michigan Streets near Webster Elementary School. He reminded the board that another bid received from another company did not provide all of the required information needed in the bid packet.
National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Recognizes Efforts of 911 Dispatchers
911 Dispatchers are the first in a line of personnel to talk to a person in distress about an emergency. These unsung heroes are being recognized this week as part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
Dispatchers alert police, fire and EMS when residents call in times of an emergency. They gather as much information as possible when a call comes in to relay to emergency personnel to best assist the caller with their situation.
Bremen Trash Days Set for May
Bremen residents are invited to take part in an event to rid the town of unwanted items.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy said Trash Days is set for Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13. It’s an opportunity for residents to do some spring cleaning. Throw away any property that is simply taking up space.
Plymouth Residents Jailed for Counterfeiting
Two Plymouth residents were taken to jail, after they allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $100 bill. Continue reading
Plymouth School Board Approves Purchase of Football Field Turf
The Plymouth Community School Board approved a resolution to move forward with the purchase of an artificial turf surface for the high school football field.
The school will enter into a lease with PNC Bank to fund the project. The cost of the project including the product, installation, 10 year warranty, and maintenance agreement totals $797,600. The payments will come out of the Capital Projects Fund for the next five years.
Culver Stellar Communities Committee Projects Gaining Community Support
The Culver Stellar Communities Committee recently chose a lighter, quicker and cheaper project for this year’s Stellar Community application and the project is gaining support of community entities.
As a lighter, quicker and cheaper project, the committee chose the installation of recycled plastic benches and a story walk featuring Culver history along a proposed new bike trail in the Culver Town Park. It is the hope of the committee to build partnerships as part of the application process.
Work to Begin This Summer on Newly Acquired Property in Bremen
The Bremen Town Council now has control of the property that formally contained the Clark gas station at the corner of State Roads 331 and 106.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy says the county recently turned over the property to the town.
Meal Prices to Stay the Same at Triton Schools
While other school corporations are seeing a slight increase in cafeteria prices for the next school year, the Triton School Corporation will not follow the current trend.
Superintendent Donna Burroughs said she feels parents and students will appreciate the efforts made by the food services staff in keeping the prices at the same level.
